Japan passes law to allow nuclear power stations to operate beyond 60 years
Japan’s parliament has passed legislation allowing the country’s nuclear
power operators to continue using reactors beyond their maximum lifespan of
60 years, by excluding the time spent on increased safety scrutiny in the
wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Argus Media 6th June 2023
https://www.argusmedia.com/en//news/2456784-tokyo-passes-law-to-extend-nuclear-reactors-lifespan
The AUKUS nuclear submarine deal is a nuclear proliferation danger
The plan to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines has met with anger from China and fears that it sets a dangerous precedent, writes Mike Higgins.
The AUKUS nuclear submarine deal is a challenge for the IAEA, Chatham House, 2 JUNE 2023, Mike Higgins
The trilateral security pact between the United States, the UK and Australia, known as Aukus, will be at the forefront of the International Atomic Energy Authority’s board of governors meeting in Vienna from June 5-9.
Rafael Grossi, the IAEA Director General, is due to present a report on the state of the negotiations governing the supply of new nuclear submarines to Australia. At issue is how arrangements for the supply of nuclear material will adhere to a never-before used article of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT.
Article 14 allows the use of nuclear material when not applied to weapons to be exempt from the usual safeguards and protocols under the NPT. By the early 2030s Australia will buy from the US up to five conventionally armed nuclear submarines and, a decade later, build a new class of nuclear-powered submarine with US and British technology. Approval from the IAEA watchdog is essential for these plans.
China has strongly criticized the agreement, saying, among other things, that the Aukus partnership ‘constitutes serious nuclear proliferation risks’, and that the alliance was forcing its own interpretations of Article 14 to suit its needs beyond the spirit of the NPT. ‘The international community has not reached any consensus on the definition of such military activity and there are huge divergences on the applicability of Article 14,’ said Wang Wenbin, China’s chief foreign ministry spokesperson, in March.
Grossi is expected to elaborate on the implications of the Aukus partnership at the IAEA’s board meeting.
At a Chatham House event in February, Grossi acknowledged the partnership required ‘a special arrangement’ between the Aukus partners and the IAEA, representing a ‘game changer’ for non-proliferation safeguards: ‘This is the beginning of a long road,’ he said.
A dangerous precedent?
…………………. some experts urge caution over the exercising of Article 14, claiming it sets a dangerous precedent which could lead to nuclear material being diverted into the making of nuclear weapons.
‘My concern is not that Australia is going to remove nuclear material from safeguards and build a nuclear bomb,’ said James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. ‘But once you normalize the precedent that it’s OK to remove nuclear material from IAEA safeguards you create a much higher risk that other states are likely to do so.
‘For instance, if Iran and Russia were to announce naval cooperation that looked like Aukus, I don’t believe that the US, Britain and Australia would feel comfortable with that on non-proliferation grounds,’ he said.
Other challenges lie ahead for the IAEA in monitoring Aukus. Nuclear submarines at sea may remain out of reach of inspectors for months at a time and nuclear fuel for naval reactors is highly classified − the Aukus partners may be unwilling to give inspectors access to its design or confirm the exact amounts to be used…………. https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2023-06/aukus-nuclear-submarine-deal-challenge-iaea
Concern over low flying aircraft circling over Hunterston nuclear power station
Concerns have been raised with civil nuclear police over low flying
aircraft over Hunterston. Aircraft apps showed that a Pilatus PC-6/B2-H4
plane repeatedly circled the nuclear power plant – leading to the matter
being raised by a concerned resident at a public meeting this week.
West Kilbride community councillor John Lamb, who was attending the Hunterston
Site Stakeholders Group, asked the civil nuclear police if they were aware
that there was low flying aircraft over the power station zone.
The incident happened on May 25 and the fFlightradar app showed that the plane
travelled across Ayrshire before repeatedly circling Hunterston. Mr Lamb
asked if the Civil Aviation Authority had altered the guidance regarding
the ‘no flight zone’ over Hunterston. Inspector Paul Gilmartin of the Civil
Nuclear Police told the meeting that he was unaware of any reports of low
flying aircraft and the matter had not been flagged up to him.
Largs & Millport Weekly News 2nd June 2023
Bellona publishes new report on Ukraine’s besieged Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
It’s something the world nuclear energy community never thought it would see — and thus never prepared for.
June 1, 2023 by Charles Digges https://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2023-06-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-report
For a year and a half, the world has bourn witness to an unprecedented spectacle: the military occupation of a civilian atomic energy station.
The March 2022 seizure by Russian troops of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Southeastern Ukraine has forced six nuclear reactors and pools of spent nuclear fuel onto the front lines of the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
It’s something the world nuclear energy community never thought it would see — and thus never prepared for. As a result, the world has watched helplessly as heavy ordinance strikes nail-bitingly close to the plant on a regular basis, repeatedly severing outside power to the facility’s cooling and safety systems.
According to Rafael Grossi, who heads the UN’s atomic energy agency —and who has repeatedly beseeched Moscow and Kyiv to create a non-military safe zone around the plant — the situation is a gamble with radioactive stakes.
“We are rolling a dice and if this continues then one day our luck will run out,” he has said more than once.
Unfortunately, the time has come to ponder just what it would look like were that to happen.
This is the subject of a new Bellona report entitled “The Radiation Risks of Seizing the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.”
In it, we analyze a variety of war-time scenarios that could befall the plant and what the consequences of those might be.
What would happen if any of the plant’s six Soviet-built VVER-1000 nuclear reactors were struck by artillery? Or a missile? What about the spent nuclear fuel storage pools? What if those were struck? Where would the radioactive fallout from any of these events go?
And perhaps, in light of recent events, the most salient danger — what would happen if the plant was unable to maintain outside power to run reactor cooling systems? Would that amount to Fukushima redux?
We also present a number of recommendations that should be followed in order to keep the plant safe while it continues to be hostage to the aggression.
Among them, we urge the Russian and Ukrainians struggling for control of the plant to keep the reactors in shut-down mode, which would greatly reduce the severity of a radiological accident. We also recommend that no nuclear fuel be unloaded, packed for storage or transported. These are complex technical tasks that cannot be undertaken by a hostage workforce while a war rages on around them.
Above all, we urge a Russian withdrawal from the plant and Ukraine as a whole, for it is not until then that anything like safe operation of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant can be restored.
USA urged not to use bomb-grade uranium in nuclear power experiment
By Timothy Gardner May 31, 2023 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-urged-not-use-bomb-grade-uranium-nuclear-power-experiment-2023-05-30/
(Reuters) – Former U.S. State Department and nuclear regulatory officials on Tuesday urged the U.S. Energy Department to reconsider a plan to use bomb-grade uranium in a nuclear power experiment, saying that its use could encourage such tests in other countries.
The Energy Department and two companies aim to share costs on the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment (MCRE) at the Idaho National Laboratory and use more than 1,322 pounds (600 kg) of fuel containing 93% enriched uranium.
Bill Gates-backed company TerraPower LLC, the utility Southern Co (SO.N) and the department hope the six-month experiment will lead to breakthroughs in reactors……….
But a group of former Nuclear Regulatory Commission members, including former Chairman Allison Macfarlane, and U.S. assistant secretaries of state responsible for nonproliferation, said MCRE could give other countries an excuse to enrich uranium to bomb-grade level in pursuit of new reactors.
“The damage to national security could exceed any potential benefit from this highly speculative energy technology,” the experts said in a letter to Energy Department officials. They fear an increase in such experiments boosts risks that militants looking to create a nuclear weapon could get hold of the uranium.
Rafael Grossi to brief UN Security Council on Zaporizhia nuclear situation
The International Atomic Energy Agency was on 30 May due to brief the UN
Security Council on his proposals for safeguarding Ukraine’s Zaporizhia NPP
(ZNPP). “IAEA director general Rafael Grossi is planning to brief the UN
Security Council on the nuclear safety and security situation” during a
meeting chaired by Switzerland, according to an official statement by the
Agency in advance of the meeting.
Director general Grossi has said he is
seeking to secure agreement on a set of principles to protect ZNPP during
the armed conflict, covering also the availability and security of external
power supplies at all times.
Mr Grossi’s plan consists of five principles:
a ban on the deployment of heavy military equipment and military personnel
at nuclear power plants, a ban on shooting from the territory and towards
the power plant, ensuring security, protecting all external power lines,
and monitoring compliance with these principles.
Modern Power Systems 30th May 2023
China halts floating nuclear power plan over security fears
Global Construction Review, David Rogers, 31.05.23
China’s plan to build a fleet of nuclear power reactors that would provide electrical power to islands on the South China Sea have been suspended over security concerns, the South China Morning Post reports.
As construction of the first units was about to begin, regulators announced that they were withholding approval.
The decision came as a surprise for the project’s scientists, who believed the technology was mature and that floating reactors were generally safer than those on land, since the ocean acts as a natural heat sink and is immune to seismic activity.
Writing in the journal Nuclear Power Engineering, Wang Donghui, a scientist at the National Energy Offshore Nuclear Power Platform Technology Research Centre, said safety and feasibility were the main concerns of authorities.
He said the decision was made in spite of a 10-year research project into floating plants, and the fact that China has advanced ship design capabilities, as well as domestic design and manufacturing units capable of building floating platforms.
It had been hoped that a floating nuclear power plant would provide power to support military and civilian activities on remote islands in the South China Sea, and China was envisaging the construction of a fleet of such vessels (see further reading)………………
n
One of the major safety concerns is that floating power plants could face attacks from sea and air, but also from underwater attacks, according to Wang.
An enemy submarine, for example, could attempt to sabotage the facility by planting explosives on its hull or damaging its cooling systems. Unmanned aerial vehicles could also fly over the plant and drop bombs or other projectiles on it.
According to Wang, protecting a floating nuclear power plant from “underwater divers, vessels, floating objects or airborne objects”, would require a comprehensive ship security system. https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/china-halts-floating-nuclear-power-plan-over-security-fears/
Neither Russia nor Ukraine committed to the IAEA’s 5 principles to protect Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine committed to respect five principles laid out
by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi on Tuesday
(30 May) to try to safeguard Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia
nuclear power plant.
Grossi, who spoke at the UN Security Council, has
tried for months to craft an agreement to reduce the risk of a catastrophic
nuclear accident from military activity like shelling at Europe’s biggest
nuclear power plant.
His five principles included that there should be no
attack on or from the plant and that no heavy weapons such as multiple
rocket launchers, artillery systems and munitions, and tanks or military
personnel be housed there. Grossi also called for off-site power to the
plant to remain available and secure; for all its essential systems to be
protected from attacks or sabotage; and for no actions that undermine these
principles.
EU Reporter 1st June 2023
1
TEPCO faces new crisis over pedestal blow at Fukushima plant
May 30, 2023 https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14920197
Damage to a pedestal inside the No. 1 reactor at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is more critical than previously believed, triggering a more intricate assessment of its resistance to a major earthquake.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has no time to waste in confronting the issue. It must swiftly assess the damage and take effective action to prevent an accident or leak of radioactive materials.
An underwater robotic probe detected the damage in late March. It found that the metal framework lies exposed along the inner side of the pedestal’s wall for about 1 meter from its bottom and for the entire inner circumference as concrete in these areas has been lost.
There are fears the containment vessel that houses the pressure vessel could crack if the pedestal collapses in a severe earthquake. That could cause radioactive materials to leak.
Referring to the structure’s current earthquake resistance, TEPCO stressed that the pedestal has managed to support the reactor vessel even though the plant “has experienced strong earthquakes.” The utility cited one last year that registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7.
Although the possibility of the pressure vessel tilting or sinking cannot be ruled out, the company asserts the impact will be limited with no risk of radioactive material leaking to the outside.
the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said last week it could not decide whether the assumptions underlying TEPCO’s risk assessment are accurate as the extent of damage and condition of the structural materials are not yet fully understood. The nuclear safety watchdog also said it would be difficult to reinforce the pedestal because of high radiation levels inside the containment vessel.
For this reason, the NRA called on the utility to evaluate the impact of a possible release of radioactive material into the environment and consider steps to deal with such an emergency.
As one NRA official put it, “I should say (TEPCO’s evaluation) is too optimistic, and it is difficult to say that is very reassuring.”
NRA Chairman Shinsuke Yamanaka said at a news conference, “It is TEPCO’s responsibility to swiftly assess what risks could impact the surrounding environment and its residents.”
Conditions surrounding the reactors that suffered core meltdowns in the nuclear disaster 12 years ago are only now finally being clarified. This has led to the discovery of additional problems that are already difficult to deal with, making the outlook of progress toward decommissioning the reactors even more uncertain.
The degradation of plant parts and materials will continue in the coming years. There is always the risk of a major earthquake striking the plant. Each time it is hit by a strong quake, the damage accumulates and the danger increases. If a radioactive leak occurs, it will seriously compromise the safety of residents, the reconstruction of the local communities and the local fishing industry.
The NRA this month decided not to lift a ban on the movement of nuclear fuel within TEPCO’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, citing flawed measures to protect the facility against terrorist attacks. There are growing concerns about whether TEPCO is equipped to operate nuclear power plants.
There is absolutely no room for complacency when it comes to the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. TEPCO must always remain vigilant to a worst-case scenario in tackling related challenges.
Groups Warn Biden that Ukraine War Shows Attacks on Nuclear Plants ‘Could Happen Here’
“Our concern is that the security of U.S. nuclear power plants does not seem to be receiving a commensurate amount of attention, neither from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), nor the administration,” the coalition explained. “Worse, your administration is also seeking to expand the nuclear industry in dangerous ways that compound nuclear plant security threats.”
Common Dreams , Jessica Corbett, 25 May 23
“The recent catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and the crash of two Boeing 737 Max jets demonstrate the real-world consequences of inadequate or capriciously enforced safety regulation and oversight. We can’t add radiological releases from U.S. nuclear plants to this list.”
In the wake of another nerve-wracking outage at a Russian-held Ukrainian nuclear energy facility this week, 90 groups and dozens of individuals wrote to U.S. President Joe Biden expressing “grave concerns regarding security at U.S. nuclear power plants.”
“We commend and wholeheartedly support your administration’s much-needed efforts to make nuclear plants in the Ukraine war zone more secure in the face of daunting political and military challenges,” states the letter, spearheaded by Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) and sent to the White House Wednesday. “This work protects not only Ukraine but the entire planet.”
“Our concern is that the security of U.S. nuclear power plants does not seem to be receiving a commensurate amount of attention, neither from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), nor the administration,” the coalition explained. “Worse, your administration is also seeking to expand the nuclear industry in dangerous ways that compound nuclear plant security threats.”
While the letter argues that given the associated security threats, “federal funding should prioritize scaling up renewables, storage, efficiency, and transmission upgrades, so as to phase out nuclear power as quickly as possible,” it also calls for immediate action.
“Nuclear plant security MUST begin at home,” the groups declared, urging the U.S. government to “learn the lesson” from Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) since Russian forces invaded Ukraine early last year—that “attacks on nuclear facilities and other external dangers they face are credible threats and could happen here.”……………………………
The coalition also sent the president a separate document detailing security concerns and recommendations for U.S. facilities, but the letter highlights the top takeaways:
- The 92 operating reactors and 19 reactors in various stages of decommissioning in the U.S. are vulnerable to sabotage, terrorism, cyberattack, dam breaches, and other threats of a deliberate nature.
- Shipments of spent nuclear fuel to consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) are similarly vulnerable.
- NRC nuclear plant security policy is reactive rather than proactive, leaving it up to licensees. The NRC also takes a “hands-off” approach to securing spent nuclear fuel.
- Independent analysis shows this approach has failed, and that as a result, U.S. nuclear plants are not secure.
In a statement, Kevin Kamps—a radioactive waste specialist with Beyond Nuclear, which signed the letter to Biden—took aim at Holtec International, a U.S.-based company that owns a proposed New Mexico CISF, has handled spent fuel in Ukraine, and recently signed a contract to deploy small modular nuclear reactors in the war-torn country.
“Holtec’s performance in handling spent fuel has been abysmal in Ukraine and similarly abysmal in the United States,” said Kamps. “That’s one illustration among others that the problem is not limited to Ukraine, and that U.S. nuclear plants are subject to security threats we need to start addressing.”
NEIS director Dave Kraft asked, “What sense does it make to send tens of millions of dollars to Ukraine to enhance security and safety, when our own 92 operating reactors and 90,000 tons of high-level radioactive wastes are not secure?”
“What sense does it make to sprinkle the next-generation micro- and mini-nuke reactors around the nation and the world, boasting they can be mobile on flatbed trucks or housed in factories or Walmarts, when it is daily demonstrated that silent drones are capable of turning heavily armored tanks and military vehicles into shredded heaps of burning metal?” he added. “This is the real world nuclear power now exists in, and this administration is not prepared to provide the safety and security necessary for it to survive.”………………………………. more https://www.commondreams.org/news/zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-biden
—
Nuclear Security: Department Of Energy Should Take Actions to Fully Implement Insider Threat Program
GAO: May 24, 2023.
The Department of Energy has several programs to ensure proper access to and handling of the nation’s nuclear weapons and related information. DOE started a program in 2014 to further protect against insider threats from employees, contractors, and trusted visitors.
But as of 2023, DOE hasn’t fully implemented the program. For example, DOE doesn’t ensure that employees are trained to identify and report potential insider threats. Also, the agency hasn’t clearly defined contractors’ responsibilities for this program.
DOE changed the program’s leadership in February 2023, but there’s more to do. We recommended ways to improve the program.
What GAO Found
The Department of Energy (DOE) has not implemented all required measures for its Insider Threat Program more than 8 years after DOE established it in 2014, according to multiple independent assessments. Specifically, DOE has not implemented seven required measures for its Insider Threat Program, even after independent reviewers made nearly 50 findings and recommendations to help DOE fully implement its program (see fig. for examples). DOE does not formally track or report on its actions to implement them. Without tracking and reporting on its actions to address independent reviewers’ findings and recommendations, DOE cannot ensure that it has fully addressed identified program deficiencies.
Examples of Selected Recommendations from Independent Assessments of DOE’s Insider Threat Program……………………………………………………………………………… https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105576
Ukraine: Power loss at nuclear plant underscores ‘highly vulnerable’ safety situation
Peace and Security https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136932
The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine lost all external power for several hours on Monday morning, highlighting the urgent need to protect the facility and prevent an accident, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
This marked the seventh time that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant had been completely disconnected from the national electricity grid since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion 15 months ago, the agency said, noting that the facility was forced to run on emergency diesel generators once again.
The plant’s only remaining external 750 kilovolt power line had been cut around 5:30am, local time, and re-connected after more than five hours, according to IAEA experts located at the facility.
‘We’re playing with fire’
Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation demonstrated “the highly vulnerable nuclear safety and security situation” at the plant, which has come under shelling during the conflict.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, this simply can’t go on. We’re playing with fire. We must act now to avoid the very real danger of a nuclear accident in Europe, with its associated consequences for the public and the environment.”
The ZNPP was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the war and is still being operated by Ukrainian personnel.
Most staff live in the nearby town of Enerhodar. On Friday, the IAEA reported that a location close to the town came under artillery fire earlier that day.
Intense negotiations continue
Mr. Grossi said he continues to engage in intense negotiations with all parties to secure the protection of the nuclear plant, stressing that “I will not stop until this has been achieved.”
He explained that the ZNPP does not have any operational back-up power lines since the last one functioning had been damaged in March, which has still not been repaired.
“For more than two and a half months, this major nuclear power plant has only had one functioning external power line. This is an unprecedented and uniquely risky situation. Defence-in-depth – which is fundamental to nuclear safety – has been severely undermined at the ZNPP,” he said.
Still awaiting access
He called for greater efforts to restore the back-up power lines, while also reiterating the need for the IAEA team on site to gain access to the Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP), located nearby.
The ZTPP has an open switchyard through which back-up power has been provided to the nuclear plant in the past. Access has yet to be granted despite reassurances by the Russian state nuclear company, Rosatom.
Following the off-site power cut on Monday, all the nuclear plant’s 20 diesel generators started operating. However, 12 were later switched off, leaving eight running, which is sufficient to operate all systems safely.
The IAEA said its experts at the site were informed that there is enough diesel fuel for 23 days, adding that after the 750 kilovolt line was restored, the diesel generators were gradually turned off.
Ukraine’s Depleted Uranium Blast: Europe on Brink of ‘Environmental Disaster’
Sputnik lnternational 19.05.2023
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev warned on Friday that a radioactive cloud was heading towards Western Europe following the destruction of a Ukrainian warehouse storing British-supplied depleted uranium ammunition.
Sputnik News spoke with Dr. Chris Busby, physical chemist and scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, about how the West’s decision to provide depleted uranium (DU) ammunition to Ukraine has potentially caused a continent-wide ecological disaster. Below is his answer in full.
Recently, several web media outlets provided videos of an enormous explosion in the town of Khmelnitski, located to the West of Kiev, and about 200 km from the border with Poland. There were two major explosions which produced a massive roiling swirling fireball which, like an atomic bomb, developed upwards and formed a mushroom cloud, which was black.
I have represented nuclear atmospheric test veterans in the Royal Courts of Justice in London and have seen many films of nuclear explosions: this was not one. A nuclear explosion is characterised by an immediate intense white light which wipes out the camera film or detector.
So, what was it? It was suggested by several commentators that an arms depot that had been hit contained the Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons sent by the UK to the Ukraine for use in the British Challenger tanks as anti-tank penetrators. That the explosion was one involving the burning of the DU in the fireball. Since I am a scientific authority on Uranium and its health effects, but have also examined its dispersion and behaviour in the environment, I will comment on what I believe happened, and why it is important. I was a member of the UK government Ministry of Defence Depleted Uranium Oversight Board (DUOB) in 2000-2005, and also the UK government Committee Examining Radiation Risk from Internal Emitters (CERRIE) 2000-2004. I am Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR) which is an independent NGO that provides advice on risk from ionising radiation.
My main research interest in this area is Uranium and health, particularly the DU particles, which are so small they act as a gas and move over very large distances once they are created by the burning of DU. I found them in England in 2003 after they had come from Iraq. I found them in 2023 in England after they came from the Ukraine war. So that is the first thing: the material is able to travel very large distances.
Therefore, if the Khmelnitsky explosion was a DU one, the material would move with the wind direction and should be detectable at monitor sites downwind.
First, we need to say that DU has a gamma signature, it releases gamma rays. The UK and USA governments lie about this. They point to the fact that the U-238, that remains after the fissile U-235 is removed in the centrifuges (and is sent off for nuclear weapons and reactors), is a weak alpha emitter.
They say that alpha radiation cannot penetrate skin and so the DU itself is harmless. That it cannot be detected by a Geiger Counter and the alpha particles don’t make it through the window. There is, of course, a health problem if the post-impact particles are inhaled and pass into the body through the lung into the lymphatic system or directly into the digestive system, but essentially DU is harmless.
What you need to know is that Uranium 238, when it decays with its alpha emission, turns into Thorium-234 and Protoactinium-234m which then turns into Uranium 234. Thorium 234 is a beta and gamma emitter delivering 6% of its decay energy as a gamma ray. Thus, large clouds of DU particulate aerosol will be detectable by gamma detectors.
When I visited Iraq with Al Jazeera in 2000 I went to the south and examined the corpses of the tanks that had been hit by DU in the first Gulf War. Some of the A-10 DU penetrators were still lying around. They gave off an intense gamma ray signal, and the holes in the tanks were highly gamma ray active. So much for only an alpha emitter.
I am a yachtsman: examination of the UK metereological weather pressure maps tell us that at the time, and for days after the explosion, there was an anticyclone to the North of the explosion site and winds were weak but from the South East blowing North Westerly around the high-pressure area. So, the plume would move towards Poland. If the winds were about 5km/h they would reach any Poland detectors 250 km away on the 15th.
After Chernobyl, the European Union set up a Europe-wide gamma radiation detector system that used to give gamma readings in real time. I went to look. But astonishingly, all the data was blocked. The web- based system, administered from Germany, (EURDEP) would not provide the detector maps that are normally available. Luckily, there were some location maps on the web and some that had been already downloaded by colleagues of mine before the system stopped working. I obtained maps from Poland. One of these I show below. [on original]
You will see that a very highly significant increase in gamma radiation occurred at this detector, north west of the explosion site almost exactly when it would be expected on the basis of a distance of 250km and a mean wind speed of 5km/h. The increase, from 60nSv/h to 90nSv/h was highly statistically significant about 50%. Other detectors all across Poland showed an increase*, as the plume passed over them, the increase being weaker the further away (due to dispersion of the plume).
Later, the Poles measured the increase at the Marie Curie Institute in Lublin, but their map was a more sophisticated one and needed some expert interpretation. The Polish map gave gamma increases split into two natural isotopes, Bismuth and Thallium, also total gamma and cosmic ray gamma………………………………………………………………..
The European radiation detector system web map came back online on May 18. The map type had been changed and everything we saw in the downloads had disappeared or had been smudged out by data analysis averaging. Why? This, and the early blocking of access to the site suggest panic and cover-up.
So taken all together, what we see is a massive explosion which is thought to be DU, and reports of a spike in gamma radiation near the site. Uranium oxide is black, and the black plume moves north west slowly, the weather pattern is stable and the wind blows to Poland. The Polish EU detectors all show gamma radiation increases at the expected time of arrival of the plume. The EU detector system is shut down rapidly, but not before we have obtained data from several sites. The Poles provide a detector result that identified Bismuth as the cause of the increase, but do not go so far as to formally state that it is (in case of later blowback).
One final piece of evidence. We see videos on the internet of the Ukrainians clearing up the explosion site using Robot vehicles, not ordinary firemen. Why do they need Robot vehicles? The last times we saw Robot vehicles clearing up was in the ruins of Chernobyl and Fukushima.
If I am right, there has been an environmental disaster, and the DU particles will travel across Poland, Germany and Hungary, and will end up in the Baltics, probably later the whole of Europe including the UK (after all, the Chernobyl Uranium particles came to the UK).
They will deliver genetic damage and death like that seen in the Balkans and Iraq. Cancer, birth defects, miscarriage, infertility, lung damage, mental problems (Gulf War Syndrome) and so forth. The scientific and epidemiological evidence on this has been clear since the Gulf War. It is all there in the scientific literature—but the governments in the West and the military ignore it, deny it and cover it up. In the case of the UK coroners court finding for Stuart Dyson, the jury found that DU caused his fatal colon cancer.
But when the coroner wrote to the health minister (as he had to by UK law, Rule 43) the reply was: we disagree. This stuff can be measured, but no one will measure it, or if they do, they will be attacked and their arguments dismissed.
Even if I am wrong, and there is some other explanation for the gamma peaks, DU must be banned. It is a weapon of indiscriminate effect and kills civilians, the enemy and your own troops (well, Ukrainian troops). It is much worse than a war gas, like Sarin, or phosgene, mustard gas or all the other chemical agents banned by civilisation. This stuff destroys the genetic basis of life itself. And no one does anything. Those who use it base their action on obsolete science supported by dishonest epidemiology carried out by dishonest scientists and obsolete and fantastical risk models.
Those who provide the weapons, the UK government in this case, are morally bankrupt. Unless it is their intention to destroy the Ukrainian people. Who knows anymore? The world has gone mad.
*Poland’s National Atomic Energy Agency claims there is no increase in radiation levels https://sputnikglobe.com/20230519/ukraines-depleted-uranium-blast-europe-on-brink-of-environmental-disaster-1110462939.html
IAEA Warns of Tense Military Situation Near Ukraine Nuclear Plant
Mirage News 19 May 23
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to warn of the potential nuclear threat in the Ukraine conflict amid rising tensions surrounding the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Friday in a statement, that a location near the town of Enerhodar, home of most of the plant’s staff, reportedly came under artillery fire earlier in the day, “in the latest incident indicating an increasingly tense military situation in the area.”
Speculation of military activity
The ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, is located just a few kilometres from Enerhodar.
IAEA experts present at the plant reported that it had not been affected “but the proximity once again underlined persistent nuclear safety and security dangers at a time of heightened speculation of future military operations in the region,” said Mr. Grossi…………………………………………………………… more https://www.miragenews.com/iaea-warns-of-tense-military-situation-near-1010184/
Nuclear Safety Authority identified faults in Olkiluoto nuclear power plant
The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) informed on its own
website on 14 April under the section Surveillance News that Teollisuuden
Voima, TVO, had detected and subsequently repaired defects and deficiencies in the
seals of the connectors of third unit (OL3) of the Olkiluoto nuclear power
plant.
The seals are required in the event of an accident. Should the seals
be missing, the measurements required for containing the accident could be
affected, compromising the safety functions of the plant.
As the incidentwas accompanied by inadequate guidance and the defect was detected in
several locations, TVO concluded that the incident falls under category one
on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). According
to the INES, the incident was classified as an Anomaly. The absence of a
single seal as such is not a safety issue, but the recurrence of the error
increased the significance of the incident on the assessment scale. TVO
submitted its own assessment to STUK in connection with the incident report
in April, and STUK made a decision based on its own assessment, in which it
concurs with TVO’s INES assessment.
STUK 15th May 2023
https://www.stuk.fi/web/en/-/tvo-identified-faults-in-ol3-connectors
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